Drifting Closer
by Love-Cook
Summary: Nico had always had a growing attraction towards a certain hunter that is starting to surface; but how will he deal with her vows to the hunters? And most of all, how will he convince her to trust him? ThaliaxNico
1. Sparks

**A/N: **I was in he middle of reading the newest book "The Lost Hero" when the thought struck me, I love Nico and Thalia together! Yes, this is based off of the FIFTH book after the war :).

... enjoy...

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!

"You did what!" Nico hissed into a jet black cell phone as they he approached the camp in a long black limousine. The driver, which was nothing more than an automaton he had found and had gotten it fixed up, jumped slightly as it's bronze mouth twitched.

"Why, I repeat- WHY would you do that Percy? There's no way-" He was interrupted by Annabeth who was yelling through the phone to get his butt down there. Nico grimaced and held the phone away from his ear. The phone flailed in his fingers as he listened to Percy fighting to get his phone back, protesting that his father gave it to him for Christmas.

His dark eyes rolled nonchalantly as he listened to them squabble like they always used to with names rapidly being fired back and forth. "Seaweed brain" and "Smart girl" were used in nearly ever sentence, which made Nico grow irritated.

As he continued to listen, he straightened his black dress pants and strapped his black sword over his chest. Nico was dressed formal- a full suit and a black skinny tie with skulls printed all over it. Black aviators shielded his eyes and merely reflected things like a mirror, despite the time of day- which was night time; seven o'clock to be precise.

"Not to be rude," Nico sighed. "But I'm hanging up; I'll see you two there." He heard Percy yell a muffled "wait!" just before he ended the call by shutting the phone. "Stop here." The vehicle suddenly came to a halt as Nico sat down the phone on the seat next to him. "You are free to leave; I'll be staying here for a while. Thank you for your services."

The moment Nico stepped out of the limo, it collapsed into dust and eventually faded into the ground. He stood there staring at where the limo once stood before spinning on his heels towards the camp. Every light in the camp was lit up and fireworks were set off in the sky by the Hermes kids who were snickering in the distance for setting the big house on fire, which was immediately put out by Chiron before they were scolded and forced back to their cabin.

The merry songs of the half-bloods rang out over the hills, laughter filled the air and the trails were all filled with chattering demigods. There were those few couples that decided to go on a stroll down the beach or around the strawberry fields; it could almost make him smile- almost. Nico yawned and passed through the barrier as he gave a nod off to the dragon guarding the tree. He quickly tossed a treat from his pocket, which was quickly devoured and was returned with a low growl.

As he made his way into camp; several campers attempted to greet him, which were all returned with a mere "hello" or grunt before he'd continued without another thought. Nico eventually made it to the dining pavilion. He was greeted by Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and a giggling Rachel at the door. Percy had a purple bruise under his right eye and what looked like claw marks on his cheeks as he muttered his hello. Rachel had to cover her mouth in order not to laugh as she recalled the scene that played out only moments ago.

"Shall we go sir Seaweed brain?" Annabeth smirked as she let out her arm. Percy's expression instantly became softer and he took her arm. "We're going to be late for our own party at this rate..."

"Let's just go in; we'll discuss our deal with Nico in there." Percy then pushed open the door to the dining pavilion and allowed them to walk in. Nico couldn't help but scowl as his "deal" was brought up again.

Tyson was called up to the stage a few seconds later for some help with some technical difficulties with the lights, fog, stage, dance floor, microphones and just about everything else. The place was already packed and the DJ from the Apollo cabin was cranking the tunes despite only one stereo working.

"Oh yeah, isn't Percy making you sing or something, Nico?" Rachel couldn't help but giggle as they reached the punch table Nico frowned and removed his aviators, revealing his angered dark eyes.

"He wants me to, but I don't want to," Nico muttered as he turned to get a glass of punch. "- and then he somehow got Annabeth to go along with it..." The blonde frowned and folded her arms over her chest, which was covered with a knee-high dark-blue dress with no straps what so ever.

"Come on; we defeated freaking Kronos for the Gods sake," Annabeth groaned. "Can you at least do this one small thing? It's just for our entertainment, geez."

"What a cruel way to entertain one's self..." he muttered after taking a sip of the punch.

"Just do it," Percy sighed. He too wore formal-ware, except a black tuxedo with a trident emblem on his breast pocket. Rachel just wore what she normally wore; ripped up blue jeans with writing and doodles with a tie-dye shirt and a red hoodie over that.

"Er, no, sorry."

"Why not Nico?" Rachel whined. "I'm a go Oracle on yo ass if you don't!" He raised an eyebrow, along with everyone else as they all turned to stare at her. "-er, never mind..."

Nico shook it off, and shook his head no. "Just- Just because! I'm no good at singing so I won't do it!"

"Just do it, Nico," a voice sighed from behind. His face instantly turned a dark shade of crimson as a warm breath was felt on his neck. Nico stiffened and quickly turned around, only to come face to face with the daughter of Zeus-Thalia Grace. "You okay there, Nico? You look a bit like a tomato..." She removed her leather jacket and revealed a sparkling black dress that went just above her knees. Her dress had two spaghetti-straps that had kept it up.

"A-Ah, yes!" Nico stuttered as he backed into Annabeth. "I'm fine, just a- just a little chilly!" The blonde half-blood stopped Nico from backing up any farther and probably running into her by setting her hands on his shoulders.

"Is something the matter, Nico?" Annabeth whispered with a concerned look.

"Maybe he should get himself checked out at the big house," Rachel suggested as she walked over to him.

"Why would you do that? He looks-" Percy winced as he was elbowed in the ribs, even if he couldn't feel it... "Annabeth..." he growled, only to have a finger put to his lips, which were replaced with her own lips. She winked at Rachel as if to say "how to get a guy to shut up 101"; she received a mixture of a giggle and a cheeky smile in return.

By the time they pulled away, Percy's face was beat red and Annabeth just smiled. But Rachel didn't have the same expression as she awkwardly pointed at Nico storming away. "Nico!" Annabeth and Percy yelled in unison. "Get back here!" They both were about to start running after them when they both turned to each other and yelled, "Stop that! Seaweed brain- Smart girl! I said STOP!"

"Wow, did you guys practice or something?" Thalia wondered as she sipped a glass of punch a little too casually.

"We did NOT! Stop that!" they both screamed, and soon had the attention of the whole camp. Tyson was loudly rooting for Percy in the corner of the room.

"Look," Annabeth sighed as she turned toward Thalia. "Nico's leaving before he sings- which is not very nice; can you...? Percy, apparently, needs a talk and Rachel was called to the big house a moment ago." Rachel then nodded and made her way out in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, I'm on it," Thalia huffed before setting down her class and taking off into the crowd of demigods. She slithered through as quickly as she could, but the Hypnos kids gave her a drowsy feeling when she passed by. Thalia shook it off and continued to run.

"Hey!" Thalia yelled once she caught up with Nico. By that time, he was just a footstep out the door. She grabbed his shoulder and yanked him until he looked at her. He folded his arms and frowned with the word "what?" written all over his face. "Come on, Nico; I bet you're really good at singing, just go up there, okay?" His eyebrow raised and he attempted to turn back around and continue, but Thalia's steel clamp of a hand kept him in place. "Do it for me?" she sighed.

Nico stayed silent for a few moments before just brushing off Thalia and walking inside, his face beat red; but luckily Thalia didn't notice. "That kid is strange..." she muttered, frowning. Thalia shook it off and followed him up to the large stage where the Hephaestus kids were connecting the last few chords. The two were greeted by Tyson who hugged them both until it felt like they were crushed by a rock five times over.

"Uh, hey," Thalia greeted. Nico greeted in a similar fashion, but instead made his way onto the stage.

"Thalia! Nico!" Tyson chuckled with glee before he turned back to fixing a few stray wires. "Tyson miss you guys!" Thalia smiled the best she could while she was being suffocated before she was released. She smiled and paid her respects to Tyson before she began to head back to the others.

By the time she had returned to the punch table, the place was a whole lot crowded and Percy and Annabeth had seemed to have expected. "So, what happened?" Annabeth asked almost immediately. Thalia returned her question with a smile and a thumbs up.

"He's on the stage right now," she informed happily. The young Hunter then turned towards Percy who was glaring at the wall about forty yards in front of him as if he were trying to burn a whole through it. He look... troubled, Thalia had told herself. "Something wrong, Percy?" Annabeth blinked and too turned towards her suddenly "ticked off" boyfriend.

"It's something with Nico..." he muttered after what seemed to be an eternity of silence between the three. "I can't place my finger on it, but something's up with him..." Annabeth's lip twitched into a nervous smile, which neither of her other two friends noticed.

'I can't believe neither of them figured it out yet,' the blonde murmured to herself as if it were obvious. "No, he's fine; he, uh, phoned me before you called him and told me he had a bit of a cold, you see?" Percy's eyes widened in realization and Annabeth winced at the thought of him exposing her.

"I get it now!" Percy said loud enough for the Hypnos kids to blink awake from their naps, only to fall back asleep moments later. Annabeth frowned and began to think up a cover-up story. "No wonder the line was busy!"

Thalia didn't look so sure and stared awkwardly at Annabeth before turning her gaze back towards the stage. Annabeth took a moment to sigh in relief and thank the gods that she had such an oblivious boyfriend at times; but she figured Thalia was clueless as well.

The three grew silent as they watched the stage intently. Nico stood in front of the microphone with his suit jacket gone. His white dress- shirt underneath was unbuttoned all the way and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows with a black shirt underneath- skulls printed all over it along with the word "death" but his tie remained.

Nico inhaled deeply and covered the mic with his hand before turning to the guy he knew as Will Solace, who was helping out the Apollo cabin drummer. "So, uh, what exactly am I supposed to sing? Any certain genre?"

"Huh?" Will said as he turned towards the death child. "Oh, just anything that, you know, represents or represented the Titan war, or our lives in general; just name the song and I'll bet you five bucks we'd know it." Nico knew just the song- it was the only song that he could really connect with.

He smiled half-heartedly and his voice grew into a murmur as he whispered the song title into Will's ear. The blonde boy nodded with a bright smile printed onto his bright face. "Sounds good." Will then turned to the rest of the Apollo campers to inform them of the plan.

As he did that, Nico had removed his hand from the microphone and began to prompt the chattering campers on the situation. "As you all should know, this is the celebration of the Titan's defeat-" Nico paused as the crowd of campers roared with applause and cheers. "Well, to open such an honorable occasion, I've been asked to sing the first song by an anonymous camper." He couldn't help but glare at a smirking Percy. "Hit it..." he whispered so only the band could possibly hear him. The lights dimmed suddenly and a video was projected onto the screen several feet above their heads.

The song began with a metso-piano guitar solo as a well-crafted video of the half-blood's many heroic deeds played on the screen; it looked professional with all of the effects. The screen flickered with scenes of abandoned battlefields as the mini-guitar solo ensued.

Nico took in a deep breath and began to breathe out the lyrics. "We are young, we have heart- born in this world as it all falls apart. We are strong, we don't belong- born in this world as it all falls apart..." As Nico sang surprisingly good into the microphone, the instruments picked up speed onto forté and the videos flickering across the screen transformed into massive fighting scenes; the ones that were highlighted was Percy's battle against Kronos, the battle against Atlas, a few between Luke, and Percy and major fighting scenes during the Titan war.

Once it stopped, the guitar solo ensued yet again. Jaws dropped throughout the audience, despite the small sample of his musical talents. Thalia and Annabeth even looked slightly impressed.

"Who knew he could sing..." Percy commented as his mouth slowly formed into a smile. "The little jerk has been holding out on us, huh?" Thalia smiled at his comment and continued to watch in silence.

As the song progressed, campers began pointing out each other as they noticed the videos of them on their quests or winning a game of capture the flag.

"I wonder how we obtained this footage..." Thalia pondered aloud. Annabeth seemed to immediately have an answer.

"The gods document every moment of every demigod's life without even being aware of it; it's like stored in their sub-conscious brain and they are able to remove those memories at will and shape them into a memory-storing device," Annabeth tried to explain. She giggled once she had gotten a weird look from Thalia. "No, they're not stalking us or anything." Thalia laughed loudly, who was joined by Annabeth and Percy.

Nico ended a few minutes later with the last scene on the screen; it was of demigods working to rebuild Olympus after the Titan war. It gave Thalia a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. The crowd was roaring with applause a few minutes later, but Nico exited off of the stage anyways; he couldn't wait to get out of there from the looks of it.

"Let's give it up for the son of Hades, Nico Di Angelo, who sung "Young" by Hollywood Undead!" Will yelled into the microphone before the crowd would start to get slightly confused at the sudden silence. "Next we have Connor and Travis Stoll singing "What do You want from Me?" by Forever the Sickest Kids!" The crowd seemed excited and a few dozen entered the dancing floor; apparently this was a nice song to dance to.

The Stoll brothers entered the stage in scorched pink pants, blue pin- striped shirts and black ties. Travis held a red Fender guitar, he probably stole, as they stood on stage. "Let's do this!" the brothers both cued the band in unison.

"I don't wanna waste my time again by getting wasted with so called friends," Travis sung with a smirk.

"'Cause they don't know me," they both sang at the same time.

"-but they pretend to be part of my social scenery." Connor added.

The crowd of demigods were nearly all on their feet and on the dance floor, jamming out to the up-beat song; even Annabeth pulled Percy onto the dance floor who claimed to have had two left feet. Thalia laughed as she waved at them.

"Have fun!" Thalia called as she waved. The Hunters even dashed past her, all in the same dresses, mind you, all wanting to just get on the dance floor. She giggled, but kept it quiet. Once they were lost in the crowd, Thalia quickly walked towards the door; she had to find Nico and find out what's up.

She searched the whole dining pavilion with no luck. Thalia sighed and made her way outside; that's the only other place he could possibly be. Sure as heck, he was standing outside, but near the Zeus cabin, which Thalia found slightly strange. He was just standing there silently. Thalia thought about what was running through his head as she approached quietly in the shadows.

Once she was close enough, she noticed he wasn't just staring into space- but directly at the night sky and the stars that littered it. He seemed to be staring at a constellation. Thalia paused and thought about leaving him alone, but she went through with continuing towards him anyways.

"Hey," Thalia said sheepishly as she walked up from behind him. He didn't look surprised by the least bit and merely turned his dark eyes to look at the hunter. Once she didn't get a response, she took it as her cue to continue.

"So what are you doing out here? It's getting kind of cold and the party's inside," Thalia asked as she set her hands on her hips firmly. Her slightly pale skin glimmered in the moonlight and her black hair was even more stunning as it reflected the illuminosity of the moon.

Nico returned his gaze to the sky and sat down on the ground quietly. Apparently, he had also put back on his suit jacket and buttoned up his dress-shirt. Thalia frowned after getting no answer and nearly asked him again, but he interrupted her. "I was never really found of being around large groups of people..." he sighed. "It makes me feel... I don't know, uncomfortable I guess."

"But you shouldn't! We're all you're friends in there, right skeleton boy?" Thalia tried to convince with an eager smile. Nico blinked confusingly at the mention of a new nickname, but it didn't really surprise him- his appearance made him sometimes look like a skeleton.

"Skeleton boy, huh?" he muttered mainly to himself before shifting his gaze back towards Thalia with a blank look. "You don't get it, you never will. I'm the son of Hades, the son of the guy who was thrown out and banished from Olympus; do you really think anyone would like me as a friend? Especially you of all people."

"I didn't know you felt that way, but why me?" Thalia added as she took a seat next to him and hugged her knees to her chest. "We really don't talk to each other all that much, do we?"

"No one knew I felt that way; I guess I'm just holding a grudge for my father, which is said to be my fatal flaw. You see, your father- Zeus- was the one that ordered my father out of Olympus and they have had this rivalry thing for millennia; I wouldn't think you'd like me of all people since you are, you know, the daughter of Zeus..." Nico explained before taking a deep breath. "But no, we do not speak very often..."

Thalia didn't speak afterwards as she studied his facial features. His eyes looked dark and murky and also empty, lifeless... blank. He too had pale skin and black hair, but he looked pretty thin for someone who has had a brush with death more than one time. His mouth was shaped into a half-smile, which slightly surprised Thalia; she didn't think a son of Hades could smile with watching someone die a painful death or something.

"Well..." Thalia murmured as she too turned her gaze towards the sky. "Is something wrong with you? You were acting a bit strange back there." She didn't feel like beating around the bush anymore and just came out and said it.

"I really don't know," Nico sighed nearly immediately. "I mean, I felt fine, why? Was I acting weird to you?" He knew he was lying, but it's not like he could tell her the truth, or else himself and her most of all would be in deep doo-doo.

"Uh, no, not at all; it was Percy, hehehe..." Thalia tried to save herself as she rubbed her neck. "I should be heading back, and you should too. But for your problem with finding it difficult to work with the other demigods, just answer this riddle, "What four letter word is the cause of most of the discord in the world, as well as most of the cooperation?" If you can answer that, the rest is easy." She gave him a quick pat on the back and got up to walk back to the dining pavilion, but stopped after her first couple of steps.

"And I told you that you'd have a nice voice," Thalia complimented with an added warm smile. "You sang great; you should really stop underestimating yourself." Nico could feel his cheeks burn and he instantly hid his face from her. She smiled one last time and continued back to the dining pavilion.

Nico frowned once he knew she was gone, but his cheeks remained red in a blush. What was she talking about? A four letter word that caused the most discord and most cooperation in the world? It was absurd. Or so he thought... He scratched his neck as he pulled out the grass around him; it just didn't make any sense.

But it was kind of hard to concentrate with the ground vibrating due to all of the music and fireworks that lit up the sky. "What did she mean?" Nico muttered as he laid back and folded his arms behind his neck.

**A/N: **There you have it ladies and gentlemen! Feel free to review :)

I like reviews, they inspire me to write more o.o… But thanks for reading, you deserve a cookie =D! Too bad I have none right now .… Ah well, should get back to updating my others =P.


	2. Riddles

**A/N: **Uh, yeah *scratches head*... Your reviews really pushed me to finish this :). My other stories can wait .. By the way, this has a little song thing in it, so I guess it's a song-chapter even if the song doesn't have much to pertain to the story's plot XP.

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own anything!

Percy and Annabeth were both sweating heavily by the time the DJ and musicians took a break. Both of their faces were red and yet they couldn't look happier together. Percy had gotten them each a glass of punch once they reached the refreshments table, which was unusually empty. Apparently most everyone had gone outside to admire the once-in- a-lifetime fireworks that turned into centaurs running or the Gods' faces.

"Yo." Thalia greeted from what seemed to be out of no where. Percy blinked and turned around to find the dark-haired maiden fiddling with the rim of her dress; she obviously looked uncomfortable with the length of the black dress that outlined her figure perfectly.

"Hey," Percy greeted, along with Annabeth who seemed more interested in something else.

"So how's Nico?" Annabeth said nearly immediately.

"Ah, he's fine according to himself..." Thalia explained as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously. Annabeth opened her mouth to speak, but was immediately silenced by Chiron abruptly stopping the music and speaking into the microphone on stage.

Everyone turned towards the centaur and listened intently. "I think it's about time we recognized our heroes; as you all know, you all fought ferociously in the Titan war- even after the blood of your brothers and sisters were spilt, you still fought to the very end," Chiron stated broadly. A silence grew from within the crowd. "But there is one boy who had to live with this curse of a prophecy and did so with a smile, he had accepted his fate without question, and defeated the Titans with the help of his friends- everyone, give it up for Perseus Jackson."

A large stage-light was shown on Percy, who smiled like an idiot as the crowd cheered and clapped. He eventually made it up on stage where he was greeted privately by Tyson and Chiron. "So, Percy, is there anything you'd like to say?" Chiron asked as he scratched his beard.

"I do," he replied. "Everyone- I did not do it myself; I would've never even been able to make it to this camp without the help of my friends; Grover Underwood, my best friend, but sadly he is out traveling and could not be here, Annabeth Chase, my best girl-friend, from the moment I got to camp and helped me survive within the first few days." Percy signaled for her to come on-stage, and she did so with a smile. He held out a hand, which she took, and he pulled her on- stage.

"My brother, Tyson... One of my best friends and the new Oracle, Rachel, who was called to the big house for some business with Mr. D..." The Cyclops happily leaped on stage with a smile. "The daughter of Zeus and a Hunter, Thalia Grace who has been a great friend since the day I met her..." She too made her way on stage with a smile. "... and the son of Hades, Nico Di Angelo, who fought valiantly despite his own sister's death.." Everyone grew silent once they noticed Nico was nowhere to be found.

"Right here," a voice said from behind. They all nearly had heart attacks once they noticed he had appeared out of nowhere. "Shadow travel; no need to get over-excited." He subtly ghosted his eyes towards Thalia's, and they locked for a split second in an intense gaze. Their gazes broke once Percy continued to speak into the microphone.

"Everyone helped tremendously and welcomed me with joy when I was confused, and I am thankful to the Gods for that," Percy said with a large grin. He proceeded to bow and walk off-stage. The crowd clapped loudly until it felt like the ground was shaking, but that also could've been the fireworks outside. The demigods on stage followed Percy off just as Chiron got hold of the microphone.

"And to commemorate such a remarkable occasion, starting at exactly ten o'clock, all campers are invited to play capture the flag in the dead of night!" The crowd roared with excitement, especially from the Ares cabin. "-But, we strongly suggest that if you are below the age of ten, are not claimed yet or are new to camp that you either stay out of it or are accompanied by a veteran camper."

A blonde girl with glasses from the Athena cabin almost instantly shot her hand up. Chiron nodded off towards her and she took that as a sign to continue. "Sir, isn't the woods most dangerous at night? What if someone were to get killed?"

"That's the point, smartass," a kid with a buzz-cut from the Ares cabin snickered, only to be thwacked over the head by Annabeth who looked ready to beat the crap out of him.

"Well, it's more fun and more mysterious in the dark; plus, it heightens our battle senses since our vision is mainly gone in the dark," Chiron explained, ignoring the comment from the Ares cabin. "And I don't want any cheating this time either..." He sent a glare towards the Hermes cabin, but his gaze stuck on the Stoll brothers who pointed at each other with expressions on their faces like: "who, us?", but their was a devious smirk behind them.

Katie, who was making a sickened expression at the Demeter table, stuck out her tongue and scowled as Travis smirked at her. Last time they played capture the flag, Katie would've won for her team if "stupid" Travis hadn't put a laxative in her lunch that day; she still had nightmares.

Nico sighed as he heard the news. Of course he'd be dragged into it even if he didn't want any part of it. He looked up at the clock; it was only eight-seventeen- nearly two hours. 'Good, that gives me some time to think,' he murmured to himself. His body began to fade into his shadow as he stared at the clock. Thalia watched quietly, but made sure for him not to see her.

"Yup, he's definitely one strange boy..." she sighed once he had completely shadow traveled to another place. Thalia knew that two hours would go by like nothing, especially for a bunch of ADHD kids.

Chiron continued to speak for a few more moments about the rules, teams and regulations on playing capture the flag at night; apparently, they had played capture the flag at night about two decades ago and it resulted in countless casualties due to some careless campers.

Thalia smiled for she wasn't scared. She was actually excited; she hadn't played capture the flag for at least two years and she missed the adrenaline rush she had always gotten. She listened intently to the list of teams- she was on the red team with some of her fellow huntresses and Percy; Nico and Annabeth were put on the blue team.

Once Chiron dismissed himself, the music instantly came back on and she returned to the punch bowl with Percy and Annabeth. Thalia had gotten a drink and Percy and Annabeth had returned to the dance floor. She smiled and waved as a slow song came on. The young huntress recognized the song and began humming the lyrics to herself as she leaned on the punch table.

"I can't figure it out," a voice huffed from next to Thalia. She nearly spit out her drink and slightly jumped as the new voice spoke to her indirectly. She blinked and regained her composure before turning towards the voice, only to find none other than Nico Di Angelo leaning on the table a few inches away from her. He was too drinking some crimson-colored punch and his eyes looked exhausted.

"You can't figure out my riddle, huh?" she sighed as her tension released. Nico turned his head towards her and shook his head no sullenly. "It's not that hard, Nico, you're probably just thinking too hard…"

"I'm NOT thinking too hard, that's the problem… I'm still stuck on to what it even means; it just doesn't make any sense…" Nico sighed as he brushed some hair out of his eyes and continued to drink his punch. "Can't you just tell me?"

"I'll give you a hint: It is just two and two- It is warm, It is cold, It is lawful, unlawful A duty, a fault- It is often sold dear, good for nothing when bought; an extraordinary boon, and a matter of course, and yielding with pleasure," she said with a warm smile. Nico couldn't help himself and too smiled without even noticing it. "It really isn't a hint, but if you can answer this one, I'll tell you the answer to the other one."

Nico nodded in response and continued to think. The two stood in silence through several songs, surprisingly comfortably. 'Do I like her…?' Nico asked himself as he scratched his head irritatingly. 'No, I don't like her…' His dark eyes closed. "It's something more…" he whispered out loud. Thalia blinked and turned towards him.

"Did you say something, Nico?"

"Huh? Oh, no! Not at all, just talking to myself, heheh…"Nico replied as his eyes shot open. 'Did I really just say that out loud?' he murmured, sounding embarrassed as his cheeks slightly turned red.

"Oh… ok," Thalia said with a smile. They continued to stand in silence for a few moments more. "Hey, do you like Annabeth?" she asked randomly, and a pang of jealousy and envy hit her gut from out of no where and caught her by surprise, but she tried her best to ignore it. Nico's right eyes twitched and he spit out the punch he was drinking all over the floor. Thalia giggled, "Is that a yes?"

"Uh…" he muttered as he wiped his mouth. Nico calmed himself down and watched some mixed campers clean up his mess. "I don't, but I guess you can say I kind of did; she has brains- definitely brains- and she is pretty, and I really liked her when I first met her, which was when they came to get us at our prison of a school…" Nico sighed and ran a hand through his black hair. "But for some reason… it wore off before the Titan war and it eventually just grew into a friendship."

"I see; it's just that you two seemed pretty close so I assumed…" she stopped herself and smiled. "Oh well, so do you like someone?" Nico blinked and couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, I like this one girl a lot, but she won't ever notice me in a million years…" Nico sighed with his smile still present, oddly.

"Well then maybe you should give her a hint or make yourself noticed, you know? Whatever girl you're after is a lucky one, I can tell you that for sure," she smiled back and Nico's heart raced for a moment and butterflies grew in his stomach, but he turned away before he would've made a fool out of himself.

Nearly immediately after, a boy with a black faux hawk walked up to them- one of his ears pierced with black ripped up expensive-looking clothing; Thalia's type, he guessed. Nico recognized him as one of the Aphrodite kids. He was an acquaintance of him for some of his previous games of capture the flag. If he remembered correctly, his name was Sid something-or-other, but his real name was Alexander or something like that.

Nico wasn't exactly sure what he had wanted until he held out his hand and he noticed the slow and mellow music playing. He knew this was coming, Thalia was beautiful in his eyes. "Want to, um, dance?" the boy seemed nervous and his whole face turned red. In the background, several Aphrodite girls giggled and pointed at poor Sid.

Thalia scowled at the giggling girls and took his hand, causing their jaws to drop. "Sure thing, Sid," Thalia replied happily. Nico watched them walk to the dance floor, but before they reached it, Thalia turned back towards him and smiled and waved, which he returned, but she was soon slow-dancing on the dance floor with Sid.

He felt his stomach tie into nights as he watched them dance. HE should've been the one dancing with her… Well, not really, but he _wanted _to be the one dancing with her.

The song progressed slower than ever and he watched them chat quietly, slowly torturing him. Once in a while, Thalia would send a smile his way, and he'd force himself to smile back and wave slightly.

"How long is this freaking song anyways?" Nico muttered acidly as he tapped his foot irritatingly. The song ended a few minutes later and Sid bent down and pecked Thalia's left cheek before thanking her and attempting to asking her out. That was the last straw. Nico's vision became blurred as his jaw and fists tightened to a point where his gums and palms were both bleeding.

Jealousy rewired his brain and his emotions ran wild; all he wanted was to rip Sid apart and throw his leftovers into an ocean of acid. Sid was a good guy though, and Nico knew it; he wasn't stuck-up like most Aphrodite kids and he didn't like breaking hearts nor did he care about what he really looked like, which was extremely odd for a child of Aphrodite.

Nico managed to control his emotions enough to not jump Sid, but instead stormed off towards the door and kicked it down, which caught the attention of half of the camp. Once outside, his figure faded into the shadows.

"Nico?" Thalia gasped, mainly to herself as she pulled away from Sid- only to find the broken door in Nico's place. "I'm sorry, Sid, I can't; Huntresses can't date and it's just not the right time, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay; at least I got to dance with you for a while." Sid smiled and urged her to follow Nico by subtly pushing her towards the door.

"Thanks for understanding," she added before turning and running after Nico. Percy and Annabeth, who were much farther back both stopped what they were doing as well and nearly ran after him, but they stopped each other once they noticed Thalia heading out the door after him.

She ran all over camp with no luck what so ever, she even checked the woods a little, but decided it was too dangerous at night to go in there alone. Thalia sighed, about ready to give up as she returned to the dining pavilion, but suddenly stopped in her tracks about twenty yards away.

A dark figure was sitting on the roof and hugging it's legs to it's chest tightly, and it's eyes gazed up at the sky distantly. Thalia's electric blue eyes widened greatly. "That's got to be him…" she murmured to herself.

Using her agility plus a running start and a nearby tree, she had gotten onto the roof without a scratch. Nico didn't seem to notice her, which somewhat gave her a sense of relief.

Thalia walked up from behind him and sat down next to him. "Are you okay, skeleton boy? You ran off…" she asked with a concerned look.

Nico sighed and fell onto his back, his hand covering his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine…" Nico replied. 'I think…' "I just overreacted and I'm sorry." Nico blinked as he heard a familiar song beginning to be played downstairs, with Will Solace singing it. He stood up and smiled as he held out a hand towards Thalia. "I'm really sorry; care to dance?"

"It's okay, Nico," Thalia said, smiling and she took his hand. "Up here? At night? Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Nico smiled widely and laughed quietly.

"Well, it beats being crowded around with everyone else inside," he tried to convince.

"You do know I'm terrified of heights, right?" she giggled for it did sound a bit weird for the daughter of the lord of the sky.

"I'm here right?" he added.

"I guess so- Why not?" He pulled her up and he set his hands on her hips and she set her hands on his shoulders, Nico now blushing but Thalia either didn't notice or didn't feel like commenting on it; probably because she was clinging to him like a magnet to metal.

_**I confess, I'm messed up  
dropping "I'm sorry" like you're still around  
And I know you dressed up  
"hey kid you'll never live this down"**_

She was a couple inches taller than him, and it should've been pretty awkward, but he didn't mind and just smiled. They danced in silence for a while, just quietly gazing into each other's eyes. Even though this was a pretty up-beat song, the still slow-danced.

_**'Cause you're just the girl all the boys want to dance with  
And I'm just the boy who's had too many chances**_

I'm sleeping on your folk's porch again, dreaming  
She said, she said, she said, "Why don't you just drop dead?"

_**I don't blame you for being you  
But you can't blame me for hating it  
So say, what are you waiting for?  
Kiss her, kiss her  
I set my clocks early 'cause I know I'm always late**_

Thalia's second riddle echoed in Nico's head as _"kiss her, kiss her" _was sang, which made him raise an eyebrow. He knew then that that line had to pertain to the riddle in some shape or form.

_**Write me off, give up on me  
Cause darling, what did you expect  
I'm just off a lost cause  
a long shot, don't even take this bet**_

You can make all the moves, you can aim all the spotlights  
Get all the sighs and the moans just right

He snapped out of it the moment he felt Thalia rest her head on his shoulder. It sent shivers up his spine. Nico had heard that this was the last song of the night before capture the flag, which was about twenty minutes away; she must've been exhausted with running around and what not- he was even a bit tired himself.

He eventually loosened up and had gotten used to her presence nearly hugging him.

_**I'm sleeping on your folk's porch again, dreaming  
She said, she said, she said, "Why don't you just drop dead?"**_

I don't blame you for being you  
But you can't blame me for hating it  
So say, what are you waiting for?  
Kiss her, kiss her  
I set my clocks early 'cause I know I'm always late

That time Nico knew for sure and his eyes widened. "Hey, Thalia?" he whispered into her ear, and he could feel her subtly shudder under his breath.

"Huh?" she murmured groggily.

_It is just two and two- It is warm, It is cold, It is lawful, unlawful A duty, a fault- It is often sold dear, good for nothing when bought; an extraordinary boon, and a matter of course, and yielding with pleasure…_

"I think I know the answer to your second riddle…"

_**(always on, always on)  
You said you'd keep me honest  
(always on, always on)  
But I won't call you on it  
(always on, always on)**_

"Really? You think so?" Her head slowly rose from his shoulder to look him in the eye. Truthfully, Nico was slightly sad that she had moved her head, but he didn't really complain. Nico nodded and a small smile grew on his lips and his face flushed red all the way down to his neck. "Okay, so tell me."

His smile grew and he couldn't hide it anymore.

_**I don't blame you for being you  
But you can't blame me for hating it  
So say, what are you waiting for?  
Kiss her, kiss her  
I set my clocks early 'cause I know I'm always late**_

I set my clocks early 'cause I know I'm always late

On the last guitar strum of the song, Nico suddenly but softly drove his lips into Thalia's. his eyes were clenched shut and Thalia was just frozen with an extremely surprised look on her face.

He pulled away once he noted they were both nearly out of breath and he attempted a smile. "N-Nico…" Thalia stuttered, but still clung to him out of her fear of heights.

"That's your answer…" He said, his voice barely a whisper as he gasped for air.

"Good answer," she said half-jokingly.

"So do I get the answer to the first riddle now?" he asked, smiling.

"Haha, sorry; you're going to have to figure that one out for yourself as well, skeleton boy," she giggled.

"But we should really get going or else they're going to get started without us for capture the flag; remember, you're on the blue team, skeleton boy." 'Am I the _only_ one that felt a connection?' Nico pondered as he watched her get off the roof as fast as possible, leaving him in the dust.

He shrugged it off and continued to shadow travel. When he got there, he was surprised to find Thalia all ready with a red sash over her chest. Nico _wanted_ to just think about how good she looked in her huntress outfit, but he forced himself to get himself ready.

He put on a black helm with what looked like blue skulls printed all over it which were originally white, but were spray-painted numerous times for capture the flag; the helm had a skull-type design mixed with traditional Greek battle-ware; it was specially crafted for him and a gift from the Hephaestus cabin. It had a dark aura and reminded him of his father and his crown of darkness.

A blue flag hung out of one of his pockets of his dress pants and blue handkerchiefs were tied around his wrists and one of his ankles. His suit jack and tie were both removed and his sleeves were rolled up. Nico gripped his black sword in his right hand and he wore black fingerless gloves for protection.

He then awaited the rest of his team by Chiron, where Thalia was chatting with the huntresses. The rest of them showed up a few minutes later and Chiron began to speak.

"This is night, my dear demigods- when monsters are at their peak and are lurking where you least expect it," the centaur explained, the Stoll brothers even going silent. "I don't expect all of you to come back like you are now- I don't even expect for all of you to come back alive, which is why we rarely ever do this; so for those of you who are of the faint of heart, drop out now." Only about three of the youngest campers walked away, the rest stayed strong.

"Very well; you all have fifteen minutes to hide your flags and strategize. The borderline is right where I'm standing," Chiron explained. "You have until the run rises above the horizon tomorrow; the horn will be called when fifteen minutes is up and also when an hour has passed, but if the horn is blown three times in a row, the game has ended, if it is blown twice in a row, there is an injury or death." He turned towards the Stoll brothers with a deadly glare, despite the two being on separate teams. "If any cheaters are caught, they will be thrown in one of the old dungeons for as long as four years to three days depending on the crime."

The teams then all lined up, each facing each other. "And… GO!" Chiron announced. A horn was blown which echoed over the hills and the teams scattered to their sides; red gaining west and blue gaining the east.

"Alright!" Annabeth called as the group stopped near the beach and where the forest ended. She was gripped the flag in one hand and her dagger in the other. "If I know them well enough, they'll send Percy and Thalia alone for the flag since they think they could handle it, then they'd have the huntresses on defense if they don't protest. Plus, they'd have your brother, Travis, lead a distraction or 'fake attempt' to grab the flag; so here's the plan."

The group huddled together and Annabeth began whispering orders. "Clarisse, take some of your troops and hide it near that cliff- you should know the one, but don't leave it in plain sight, put it somewhere where it won't be that noticeable. Also, guard it the best you can, but don't make it obvious that you're guarding something." Annabeth handed her the flag and she was soon running down the beach with several burly-looking boys and girls.

"Travis; I want you to take the huntresses and scout for the flag- get it if you can, but otherwise contact us through a flare which you should have plenty of." Travis smirked and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Ladies…" Travis smirked, but they all snorted in disgust as if to say "pervert". Katie raised her hand, with an equally disgusted expression.

"Uh, yes Katie?"

"I think I should go with them; Travis isn't the most reliable person in the world." She sent a glare his way which was returned with a mock kissing face, which some of the guys giggled at. Katie looked ready to gag.

"Very well, get going." Annabeth whispered quickly and harshly before turning towards Nico, who raised an eyebrow. They all nodded and dashed into the woods.

"Nico, you, being the son of Hades and son of one of the big three, may be the only one who could hold Percy and Thalia off, which is why you, Will and I are going for their flag. When the time comes, which is when we'll come across Percy and Thalia, Will and I will act as distractions and you will go ahead to grab the flag." Will nodded behind her.

"Sounds good," he replied with an expressionless mask.

"The rest of you! I am splitting you into thirds! A third of you will get the left side of the woods, another the right, and then the last will get the center. Half of you in your groups will be acting as defense with the other acting on offense," Annabeth explained as she split them apart.

"After five minutes when we're gone, go ahead and start." Annabeth saluted off to them and turned to head into the woods with Nico and Will. The second they got into the woods, it was pitch-black other than the moon peeking through the trees. But off in the distance, she could see the fires of the apposing teams, so she decided it was best to just follow their instincts instead of lighting a fire.

"Let's do this," Annabeth whispered confidently. Will and Nico both nodded and they continued into the woods. Several minutes passed and they were getting closer to the borderline when the horn blew, announcing the fifteen minutes being up.

Elsewhere across the border, Thalia and Percy both headed east in complete silence with a torch lit and carried by Percy. But Thalia's mind was somewhere else… she couldn't stop thinking about the kiss; her FIRST kiss, which happened to be with Nico. What if the other hunters found out? What if _Artemis_ found out? She'd be in some deep crap there.

_Wham! _"_Shit!_" Thalia screamed as quietly as she could. Percy immediately turned around and found her sitting on the ground and holding her left ankle.

"What happened? Are you okay, Thalia?" Percy asked as he squatted down and held out a hand for her to take.

"I tripped over this damn log," she hissed as her ankle throbbed with pain. Thalia grimaced as she took Percy's hand and was pulled to her feet. "Ouch! Ouch!" She jumped on one leg as her other foot touched the ground.

"Are you sure you're okay? We can bring you back to Chiron. Can you even walk?"

"I'm fine, Percy; let's just get going before the other team finds us." Percy nodded and the two continued to run, with Thalia slightly limping.

On the borderline, which was a creek, Annabeth looked both ways for the apposing team. She signaled moments later for them to follow. They each ran across the creek as quiet as possible as they all watched out for other campers.

The moment Annabeth touched land on the other side, the horn blew twice in a row and they all widened their eyes notably and all froze in their tracks. Several seconds past and it blew again… then again… and again; it kept blowing until Annabeth couldn't take it and she charged forward with Nico and Will.

The blonde hissed something in Greek as they marched forward, which each of her companions recognized instantly. They both looked slightly shaken by the comment, but continued and shrugged it off.

They all stopped so suddenly about fifteen minutes later that they all ran into each other like dominos. A large, bright and white firework was shot into the air that lit up the whole forest from about three hundred meters away. Nico's eyes widened as he spotted Percy- only Percy- not too far away admiring the lights.

He nudged Annabeth and Will, and they both stared off in that direction. Annabeth nodded and pointed her dagger towards Percy and looked at Will. "Nico, go on ahead, the flag's not too far from here." Will then readied his crossbow and dagger at his side and he nodded towards Annabeth. The two then ran off into the darkness towards Percy, which was followed by the sound of swords clanging.

Nico began running moments later after the light faded towards where the signal was set off. He made it to the red flag a few minutes later, panting. "It's not guarded? They must be feeling very cocky right now…" The flag was set on the top of the largest tree and had scorch marks. Travis and his happy-go-lucky band of girls were nowhere in sight.

Nico shrugged and began to climb the tree. "Not so fast, skeleton boy!" a voice rang out through the woods, causing Nico to freeze. _Duck! _His instincts screamed at him, and he did so just in time. A celestial bronze crossbow bolt whizzed past his head and cut off a few strands of his hair. He was so close to the flag- he couldn't stop there so he continued.

"I said STOP!" the voice that sounded now eerily like Thalia's demanded as Nico neared the top. His instincts took over as eleven consecutive bolts were shot at him. A few had gone through his shirt or pants, but surprisingly none hit him.

He slithered like a jungle cat through the branches and eventually made it to the top where he snatched the flag, but out of nowhere, a celestial bullet whizzed up to his chest. He attempted to jump and was shot in the leg. Nico began to fall through the branches with the flag in-hand.

"For the God's sake, I told you to stop," the voice sighed. Thalia stepped out of the shadows with a silver crossbow under her arm and a frown present on her face. Nico winced and hugged the flag to his body. "Just give it up and hand over the flag- you know you've lost." Again out of nowhere, his black sword came spiraling down from the trees aimed for the top of Thalia's head.

Nico smirked and rolled over as she ran out of the way. He held out his hand and caught the sword's hilt tightly. He jumped to his feet the best he could and summoned the flames of hell in his hands as he gripped the sword.

Thalia frowned and fired at Nico consecutively, which were either dodged or deflected with his sword or hands. He took the time while she was reloading to fire some of his own attacks at her. The flames built up in the palm of his left hand and he fired them consecutively towards Thalia.

She was extremely flexible and used her agility to dodge them all harmlessly all while reloading her crossbow. As she readied to fire at Nico, a few yards away, trees crunching could be heard and the two both froze in their exact positions.

Directly behind Nico, a scaly red head peaked out about twenty feet above him. "Holy Hephaestus!" Thalia yelled and began firing at the beast. Nico quickly jumped out of the creatures way and landed on his side where he had gotten a better view of it.

It looked like a dragon without wings with an abnormally long neck and body; he could've sworn he knew exactly what it was. "Why does this always happen?" Nico groaned as he jumped into the air. He aimed for it's head, which surprisingly wasn't guarded very well.

His sword passed through it's neck like butter, and Nico dropped back down to the ground. "Show-off," Thalia sputtered. Nico smirked, but it soon disappeared once he noticed two heads growing back where the one head was.

"Good job, Sherlock! You just made it worse!" Thalia hissed.

"Me? You didn't do crap! If it weren't for me, we wouldn't have even known what this thing could do!" Nico retorted as he backed up. "It's a freaking Hydra!"

The heads both glared at Nico, the new head blue and they both let out enormous waves of fire. "Oh shi-"

"Get out of the way!" Thalia called as she pushed him to the ground along with her. "If you're going to do something, don't let it be 'burn me to ash'!"

Nico sighed and scratched his head as she got off of him. The two both backed a fair amount away. "I knew I encountered this beast before; the only way to defeat it, I believe, is to chop off and burn it's heads before they grow back." Thalia's eyes widened; she had an idea.

"You can summon those flame things, right? We can use those to burn it," Thalia explained.

"Yes, I know, I had the same thought; but it exhausts me when I use them- I need to regain some energy or else I may die."

"Well we might die now if you don't use them," Thalia said as she swallowed hard. The dragon kept coming closer and closer until flames were at their backs.

The hydra looked a bit bored and roared since it's pray wouldn't stop playing around with it. One of it's claws suddenly reached down and grabbed Thalia as if to tell them to stop playing around. Nico's eyes were filled with rage as he jumped for Thalia, but was too late and was nearly scorched to a crisp, but luckily he rolled on the ground, landing to his feet.

"Thalia!" Nico called. The huntress screamed as she was swung around in the air. 'Not good,' he muttered to himself. 'I guess it's my last choice…' He took in a deep breath and summoned the flames of hell in his hands.

"Give her back you ugly bastard!" As he jumped into the air and raised his sword above his to slice down on it's neck, a claw came out of nowhere and sliced him across the chest. Nico saw it coming and he knew he couldn't avoid it without having Thalia killed. He clenched his eyes shut and allowed the claws to slice his chest.

He summoned the last of his strength to slice down on it's neck and set it on fire. Immediately afterwards, he landed on the ground with a loud thump. The beast released Thalia and Nico bounced to a stop as the hydra turned to dust and siapeared in the wind.

The huntress gasped for air for it was crushing her lungs as she struggled to get up on the ground. Once she regained her composure, she noticed Nico. His blood was spilling everywhere and soaking into the ground and several trees were on fire around them.

The flag laid in his left hand and his bloodied sword in the other. Crimson blood soaked his shirts and she attempted to stop the bleeding, but froze when she noticed how deep the cuts were. She forced herself not to look as tears welled up in her eyes. "I c-can't stop the bleeding! Help! S-Someone please help! I don't want to lose him!"

She glanced down at his soot-covered face. His eyes were rolled back in his head and his left arm was twisted into an inhuman position. "Don't die on me, you hear me!"

**A/N: **There you go :)! Please review, as I said before, I write faster with positive reviews. Thanks again :D!

By the way, the song was "A little less 16 a little more touch me" , XD, it's by Fallout Boy :D!


End file.
